


Waiting

by Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Autistic Kobra Kid (Danger Days), Dermatillomania, Dissociation, Emotional Growth, Gen, Party Poison is bad at emotions, Semiverbal Kobra Kid (Danger Days), Sibling Bonding, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, uhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24914431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth/pseuds/Teethteethteethteethteethteethteeth
Summary: Party Poison has to protect the Kobra Kid. They need to.
Relationships: Fun Ghoul & Party Poison (Danger Days), Jet Star & Party Poison (Danger Days), Kobra Kid & Party Poison (Danger Days)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	Waiting

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I am struggling with ASL grammar, and I know it’s wrong, and I don’t know how to fix it. I honestly apologize.

When the Kobra Kid gets back from Doctor Death-Defying’s station, they’re jumpier than usual and won’t meet Party Poison’s gaze, both signs they’re hiding something. Poison corners him in the kitchen after dinner as he tries and fails to coax the sink into giving anything more than a trickle of water.  
“Hey, Kobra. What’s up?” Kobra turns away from them, hands jammed firmly into their jacket pockets so they can’t sign.  
“Witch, Kobra. Th’ hell’s bothering you? You can talk to me, you know.” Kobra shakes their head, muttering something under their breath.  
“What’s that?” Kobra turns to Poison, signs  
“Doctor D. Run”, before turning right back around, crossing his arms.  
“Oh, ‘s that all? Really not a big de—“ Kobra shoves a crumpled piece of paper into Poison’s hand and stalks off, faucet still slowly dripping. Confused, Poison uncrumples the paper and curses, dropping the paper as they stomp after Kobra. Doctor D’s handwriting slants across the page, ordering the Kobra Kid off on an undercover mission alone in Batt City. 

“The hell, Kobra?” They don’t answer, staring in the mirror as they rub dark brown dye into the ends of their hair, covering up the bleach-blond that took them so long to achieve.  
“Were you gonna tell me about this, or what?” Kobra shakes his head and returns to inspecting their hair, more invested in the task than strictly necessary. Poison snaps, shouts, berates Kobra until they’ve washed the excess dye out of their hair and shut themself in the back room, presumably preparing for their mission. Poison groans in frustration as they seize up the portable radio back in the kitchen and dial Doctor Death-Defying’s frequency.  
“D. Pick up. We need to talk.” It’s Cherri who answers, bringing the radio over to Dr. D as Poison stews in anger.  
“What the hell are you thinking? Sending Kobra in alone? I’m going too.”  
“Party Poison, how are you doing?”  
“Don’t do that. Listen to me, fucking bastard and tell me why the hell you’d force Kobra into a fucking solo mission in the city.”  
“Well, I needed someone for a solo mission in the city, and your brother was just the person for the job. I asked, and they agreed.”  
Poison screams through clenched teeth, hands scratching up and down his upper arms.  
“You can’t fucking do that, he’ll die back in there, I have to go, I have to protect him!”  
“Poison. Cool it. I asked Kobra to go. He agreed. He can protect himself.”  
“But they shouldn’t have to! I should be there to protect him!” There’s a long pause over the radio before Dr. D replies.  
“I am going to end this call now, Poison. Kobra will be going on the mission, and Kobra will be fine. Goodbye.” And the radio cuts off without another word. And the radio breaks, knob flying off as Poison hurls it at the opposite wall, crumpling onto the floor of the diner. 

Kobra finds them there later, hunched over against a cabinet, clutching his knees to his chest. Kobra lays two fingers on Poison’s shoulder, a greeting, and Poison gets up, stalking off without a word. They lock themselves in the bedroom they share with Kobra for the rest of the night, forcing Kobra to sleep with Jet and Ghoul, and don’t come out to see Kobra off in the morning. 

After Kobra’s departure, Fun Ghoul takes it upon themself to pick the lock on Poison’s door and burst into the room, startling Poison awake from where they’d been lying on the floor.  
“Ah, shit, Poison.” He’s a mess, arms and face scratched raw and bloody, staring off haphazardly not-quite at Ghoul. Ghoul kneels beside them and they blink, breath coming ever so slightly faster.  
“Poison, you here? I gotta touch you, okay?” They don’t respond, and Ghoul places a hand on Poison’s. They jump, some approximation of a whimper coming from them. Ghoul takes his other hand, and he’s still not really present, but they allow Ghoul to guide them up off the floor and to the bathroom, steps unsteady.  
“Hey, Poison, can you hear me? Tell me if you can, please.” His mouth moves ever so slightly, and Ghoul squints.  
“Can’t tell what you’re sayin’, Poison, but I’ll take it as a sign you can hear me. I’m gonna have you sit up here on the sink, see? And I’ll be cleaning those, okay?” Poison sits on the edge of the sink, wincing when Ghoul disinfects the deep scratches, wrapping bandages around their arms and taping gauze to their face. When they’re done, Ghoul leads Poison to the couch in the old dining room, pulling him into their lap.  
“You okay, Poison?” Poison raises a hand noncommittally and lets it fall back into their lap, and Ghoul hums agreement. The two of them sit together in silence until Poison turns to Ghoul, speaking loudly to compensate for not signing and stressing the scratches on their arms.  
“Thank you, Ghoul. I’m sorry.”  
“Don’t be sorry. Try an’ reach out next time?” Poison sighs through their teeth.  
“I will. I just— I knew I was being unreasonable, I was wrong. And I still couldn’t help but freak out.” Ghoul frowns, thumb rubbing circles into Poison’s forearm.  
“Hm. What in particular scared you?”  
“They’re going in alone. And I should protect them.”  
“Ya say that a lot. Say it’s your job to protect Kobra. Why?”  
“‘Cos I’m his older sibling. I gotta.” Ghoul frowns again, confused, and Poison repeats what they said, more clearly.  
“And who’ll protect you?”  
“Me?”  
“Yeah. I know f’r a fact you’re a lot more bothered goin’ back to the city than Kobra is. I know D didn’t ask you about the mission ‘cause he knows you couldn’t make it. Kobra can. You’re different an’ that’s okay.” Poison flushes, blinking rapidly.  
“You think I couldn’t make it in the city? I got me and Kobra out of the city all on my own! I’m—“  
“Poison, I can’t understand ya when you talk so fast.”  
“Sorry. I’m just— I miss him, and I’m scared.”  
“I miss them too, Party Poison.”

The diner is quiet for the next few days, in the absence of the Kobra Kid. Party Poison does better, for the most part, as time goes on, though Jet finds them taking a pair of dull scissors to their hair one night in the kitchen. Dr. D radios in every other day with as detailed updates as he can manage, and Ghoul and Jet listen in carefully. Poison refuses to speak to the Doctor, instead grilling the other two for information afterwards. Five nights into Kobra’s mission, and Poison wanders out to where Jet’s working on the trans am, slumping through the open window onto the driver’s seat, legs dangling out through the open window.  
“Hey, P. What’s up?”  
“‘S nothin’ much”, they pause, take a breath, and begin again with vigor, “Just. I’m afraid for Kobra. I know they’re undercover as a Drac, and lotsa Dracs don’t talk, so he won’t get found out that way, but what if something happens and he needs to communicate and he can’t, and also D said Kobra’s gonna be getting fake sugar pills t’ take instead, but what if those bug them too much to take an’ they get caught, and I can’t. What if I can’t protect him? There’s just so many ways this could go wrong, so many ways the city’s against who Kobra is, and—“ they break off with a cry of frustration, trying to stifle their sobs.  
“Hey now, Party. Kobra’s tough, you know? He survived years in the Battery as a kid, he can get through this no problem.  
“I know, I guess. But— he shouldn’t have to!” They shout the last part before dissolving back into tears. Jet opens the driver’s side door, lifting Poison’s legs through the window as it swings away, squeezing down beside Poison.  
“It’s true, they shouldn’t have to. And they are. And it’s true they don’t deserve what they’ve been through, and neither do you. Kobra’s strong, and they don’t need you to look out for them, okay? They need you to look out for you.” Poison shrugs, but they agree to accompany Jet back inside for dinner, pulling him into a hug as they go. 

When Dr. D radios to tell the three of them that the Kobra Kid’s mission is done, that he’s back at the radio station, Poison’s the first one to the car to go pick him up. He offers a tentative hug when Kobra returns, which his brother readily accepts. Aside from a few scrapes, Kobra’s unharmed, and they’ve already begun bleaching their hair back to normal while they waited for the others to arrive. Party Poison whispers an apology into their brother’s ear as they ride home in the backseat of the trans am together, and the Kobra Kid smiles, running a hand through Poison’s newly shortened hair the whole way. 

“Talk?”, Kobra signs to Poison after dinner, and Poison agrees, so the two of them sit together on the back steps as Poison scrubs their empty Power Pup cans clean with sand.  
“I’m sorry. I got mad and scared and stuff. I don’t know. But, um, I shouldn’t have acted like you didn’t make the choice to go on the mission, and I shouldn’t have doubted your ability to do it.” Poison’s unconsciously scratching at their arms again, and Kobra pulls their hands away before saying their part, hands steady as they sign.  
“Thank you. Means a lot. Are you okay?” Poison smiles slightly.  
“Yeah. I really didn’t, uh, have a good time of it without you, and I guess that kind of means I have to realize that you can do stuff without me needing to protect you. And I guess I gotta work on, like, being a whole person without you, you know?” Kobra nods, and pulls Poison into a hug.

Afterwards, as the two of them stand to go inside, Kobra catches Poison’s eye, and signs,  
“I’m proud of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go! This is in no way a metaphor for anything at all :) :)  
> But anyways, I’m gonna force self-awareness and healthy coping onto Party Poison like I force bad music into my little sister.  
> Drop a comment below, and find me on tumblr @wishiwasthemoon-tonight !!


End file.
